Restaurateurs and Everything in Between

As we have mentioned plenty of times before, the decor of your restaurant can definitely set the mood for the meal that your customers are about to eat. Even more importantly, it can set the mood for the kind of conversation and the type of conviviality that is shared at the table. In other words, you have a lot to answer for when it comes to decor.

It makes sense for a lot of restaurants to model their decor after a theme. For example. if you look at a place like Joe’s Crab Shack, you will get the theme of an old dingy beach shack. Places like Red Lobster are similar. You can totally guess from the decor that the restaurant is trying to have a maritime East Coast theme.

Still other kinds of restaurants will ditch the theme and pick a certain vibe that they want to impress upon their audience. For example, a restaurant might be interested in projecting a very modern kind of vibe. To accomplish this, they might go for minimalistic decor and seating. Still others strive for the old fashioned fine dining vibe.

Natural elements

Whether you are looking to decorate your restaurant after a theme or a vibe, there are certain things that you simply cannot overlook. One of those things is the amount of natural decor that exists in your restaurant. Even if you are going for a more modern or urban vibe, striving to make sure you include some natural elements should be of utmost importance to you. One of the things that we suggest you include is wood.

Wood is very versatile because you can have it show its natural colors, which bring out earth tones and give a feeling of being out in nature. If you want to cover it up, you can simply paint the wood and have a completely different look.

It’s no mystery that the restaurant business is a little bit saturated. If you walk down any block in your local neighborhood, you will probably find at least two restaurants that are open for serving customers. This fact can be quite daunting if you are opening a new restaurant. It’s very difficult to be the new joint on the block sometimes. Not only do you have to live up to expectations of new hype, but you also have to compete with restaurants that have already established themselves. It’s risky business.

Another reasonable fear that new restaurant owners have is that their location is not ideal. This can definitely be true when it comes to buying property. Sometimes the budget doesn’t allow for a great spot that gets lots of traffic. As a result, the life of your business can be completely dependent on location.

However, what if I told you that there was a way to circumnavigate these very real fears? If you are incredulous, then start believing. I have the solution. It’s called a food truck. The concept is not new – people have been operating food carts for a long time. However, the concept of mobile food on the go is quite unbeatable when it comes to business. For example, many food truck owners will place themselves around a park or a busy intersection during lunch time in a business district of a city (I saw this happen in Washington DC). When people get off for their lunch break, they see all of the food carts and subsequently flock to them. It’s truly a winning recipe for success!

Unfortunately, when people go to a restaurant for the first time, they don’t remember much. They might remember all of the effort that you put in to make the decor look nice and inviting. They might remember all the time that your chefs took to make the presentation of the food look immaculate. They might even remember the nice table cloth and place settings that you took a full week to hand select.

Odds are, however, that they might remember the service. This is because we as humans will connect to another human face much more strongly than any kind of object (most of the time). When it comes down to it, then, it’s just pure psychology. This is why it is absolutely important to impress upon your waiters and waitresses that they are the face of your restaurant. This post contains some information on how to organize and direct your wait staff in a way that makes them efficient and respectful towards the guests. Keep reading for more information.

Service

Training

Training your wait staff can be difficult. A lot of the time, many of your servers will have prior experience in being a waiter or waitress. Many of them will think that they have their own style of serving. It is important that you direct them on how to comport the vibe of your restaurant. At the same time, you want the servers to feel like they can be themselves and feel natural. The best way to accomplish this is to have weekly meetings to have an open dialogue with your servers.

As I am writing this post, I am sitting in a college town coffee shop with a warm cup of their strongest brew. There are a million things going on in my life right now, but somehow I feel tranquil and at peace. You might wonder why. If you think it has to do with the coffee, you are mostly wrong. If you think it has something to do with the chill laid back indie music pouring from the ceiling PA, you would be wrong again. It’s not even the crappy reupholstered furniture that makes me relaxed.

If you’re fresh out of guesses, don’t sweat it. I’ll tell you. It’s the lighting. When opening a restaurant or some kind of common space where people meet, you want people to be able to see each other well. You want the atmosphere to feel natural and maybe even enhanced. At the same time, however, you don’t want to overdo it. What is the common denominator? Lighting! Read on for more information.

Setting the Mood

What should I use?

When it comes to lighting, you can often be lost in the woods due to the overwhelming amount of options available to you. One of the reasons why looking for lighting can be so intimidating is that there are many different types of lighting that exist. For example, we will start with track lighting. This type of lighting describes a series of lights that exist on a single bar or “track.” You will often see these kinds of lights above counters where they can provide light for a certain area.

Another very popular type of lighting is called a “sconce” or “sconces.” These lights are affixed to walls and can provide nice mellow lighting to a dark room. Be wary though. These lights are not really meant for improving the visibility within a room. Many rooms with sconces for lighting can still give the impression of being dimly lit. If you are interested in getting sconces, there are several options around. If you like wood, you can get wood sconces from a company that recycles wood. Oftentimes they will use the wood that was used from a failure of a treatment for dying trees. If you have any questions, you can definitely find answers on the web. If you just look up wood sconces in a search engine, you might get a result such as http://www.savannahtrees.com/tree-service-savannah/ or http://www.savannahtrees.com/tree-removal-savannah/. These are both great results to find.

When you are trying to get your marketing and advertising game on point, it is difficult to decide what kind of route you are going to take. For example, some restaurants will choose to make commercials. Some will try to get placements online or in certain publications. Still others will try to advertise some sort of promotion that is going on where customers can get an item or dish for a discounted rate.

While discounts are definitely a viable route to take, there is some controversy as to whether this should be a go-to for new restaurants that are opening. This post will investigate some of the dialogue that has been opened up on this topic. Read on to decide for yourself what is best for your restaurant!

A deal

What kind of restaurant are you?

When it comes down to it, there are settings where a promotion is appropriate and settings where it is not. It really depends on what kind of restaurant you are. For example, a lot of fast food places will offer some sort of promotion. Before you dismiss promotions as classy, there are plenty of nice bistros and cafes that offer some sort of promotion or daily special.

Can you afford it?

The other thing that you need to think about is how big of a promotion you want to give. There could be some very exciting things that you could offer. However, that might not be a great idea financially for your new restaurant.

We live in the modern age. This means that we need to keep up with the times when it comes to getting our name heard and recognized on the internet. However, for some reason, successful internet marketing is very uncommon for restaurants. This is a problem, because without sufficient marketing to reach a target demographic, it will be difficult to get people in through the door for the first time. This post will go through some informative and helpful suggestions to beef up your online presence as a restaurant. Keep reading to uncover the industry’s best kept secrets!

On the web

Website

Obviously, the first thing that you need to do for your online presence is get a website. A lot of people who have restaurants are worried that they do not have the technical expertise to set up something like this on the internet. However, do not be afraid. There are plenty of services that exist on the web that can help you set up your website. Some WordPress sites will even walk you through the website set up and get you a killer cutting edge design.

Facebook

The next thing that you need to do once you get a website is to have social media presence. This is a huge part of our culture now; consequently, we need to adapt to stay relevant. What you can do is offer certain promotions that are exclusive to social media. That will drive traffic to your page.

If you have done Facebook already, try branching out to Instagram and Twitter.

Everyday, there is a new trend that emerges. This trend can exist in any sort of world. For example, there could be a new trend in fashion. There could be a new trend in the automobile industry. You see what we are saying?

Right now, there is a trend in the restaurant business. We know that within the past twenty years, there has been a huge push for organic and natural foods. This happened as a result of growing pollution and health concerns in the 1970s and 80s. As a result, many people have been turning to small local farmers for their produce and even their meat. While this may not be good for the big time agricultural industrial giants, it is a trend on which you can capitalize. You can do it too! Read on to find out a little bit more about what “it” is.

Local

Food from your backyard

Many restaurants have already done this, but don’t be afraid, it’s still cool. The concept is called “farm to table,” and it means exactly that. What restaurants will do is have some sort of deal worked out with a local farm for the produce, dairy, and meat. This allows the farmer to have business. In addition, working out a deal with a farmer makes sure you have only the finest ingredients available for your culinary expertise. This can be a little bit more expensive, but don’t be worried. Customers usually don’t mind. They also appreciate being able to eat organic and healthy food.

If you have ever spent any amount of time in the restaurant business, then you certainly know that running a successful operation entails getting great reviews from both critics and regular customers alike. In this day and age, we have an inordinate amount of websites and apps dedicated to feedback that can influence the decisions of a whole market or demographic. For example, we have Yelp, which is a user based website that allows customers to post their honest reviews on websites. While that may not seem like a big deal, it can actually greatly impact the decisions others make. For example, some people might be from out of town and not know any good restaurants to try. If your restaurant comes up, they will probably try to see how well it is rated. If you have some poor Yelp ratings, many people will decide to skip your spot and go somewhere else. I know this because I have even done it myself!

Anyway, this post should help you with some of the finer points of getting a good review Read on for some insider secrets.

Rave reviews

Good food

Obviously, since you are working in/for a restaurant, you know that you are there mostly for the food. That’s why they exist! You need to make sure that your food is high quality with great taste and presentation.

Good service

Another thing to consider is great service. This will impress customers right off the bat. Make sure your servers and hosts have a smile and are friendly and fast.

Opening a new restaurant can be an exciting venture. There so many different routes you can take with your idea. One idea that people usually do not consider, however, is the notion of opening some kind of restaurant on a train. This is because the method of train transportation is not that popular in either the United States or Canada. However, in certain areas of both countries, trains are still widely used and very relevant. In addition, traveling by train is a huge mode of transportation in Europe.

Given all of these factors, it could be very advantageous for you to open some kind of restaurant on a train. This post will help you figure out some of the odds and ends of this venture. Keep reading to learn more!

Trains

Food

If you didn’t know already, the food on trains in the dining cars is pretty lousy. Most of these goods are overpriced and low quality. One of the best things for you to do if you want to break into the market is to come up with some quality food to serve on trains. This does not have to be some sort of five course meal, but it sure could be! The sky is the limit with this.

Accommodations

Making your customers comfortable while eating can be very difficult, especially on a train. There are a lot of bumps and such that are going on during the customer’s eating experience. What you can do is have extra padded chairs to cushion the bumps. You could also have little notches on the tables that hold the plates in place.

If you are someone who is opening some sort of hip new restaurant, then you definitely want to make sure that your atmosphere is on point. This will go a long way to impress the customers.

If you are gung ho on this kind of idea but have no idea where to start, do not worry. You have come to the right place! We have been in the restaurant business for a long time and have had some incredible successes opening up new places in different areas with a wide range of demographics. We want you to feel as confident as we do that if you follow some of these tips and tricks, you will have a great atmosphere for your restaurant in no time. Make sure to keep on reading to get the full scoop!

Atmosphere

Your surroundings

The first decision you have to make when you are considering your potential atmosphere is the surrounding setting of your restaurant. Are you in a posh suburb? Are you in a bustling downtown district? Are you nestled somewhere off the beaten path? These are all things that you will need to consider when setting your vibe. That being said, you do not necessarily have to follow the vibe of the setting. For example, you can create a theme and go along with that. This is a very popular way to come up with ideas for setting the vibe. You can also base the ideas for the atmosphere off of the kind of food that your are going to serve.